Well here are some great things to do in the Big Easy for more chariable spirits.
Posted on 12/24/2002 7:55:25 AM PST by Sparta
BATON ROUGE -- A state agency that rehabilitates homes for the rural poor has mismanaged the program, resulting in leaky roofs and other substandard repairs and excessive payments to contractors who sometimes did not even complete the work, Louisiana's legislative auditor said in a report released Monday.
The report also said the agency's president, a board member and employees violated ethics policies by accepting meals or gifts from companies that do business with the agency.
The Louisiana Housing Finance Agency, or LHFA, which administers programs to assist home financing for people of low and moderate incomes, responded to the auditor with a letter admitting problems with the housing rehabilitation programs but denying some of the ethics violations.
The auditor examined the agency's Substandard Housing Assistance for Rural Economies Grant Program, or SHARE, and the Tri-Delta SHARE Grant Program. Using money from both the U.S. Housing and Urban Development and the Health and Human Services departments, the programs aim to help low-income families live in safe, decent and affordable housing.
The agency relies on local governments to identify eligible homeowners in need of house repairs as well as contractors to do the work. The local governments often use consultants to lead the process.
Poor contracting noted
The programs have spent more than $6 million to rehabilitate 338 homes in Louisiana, as of September. The legislative auditor examined 14 of the housing units and found them rife with unfulfilled contracting work and poor agency oversight.
For example, a contractor was paid $3,400 to install a roof on a home in Oak Grove, but the roof later leaked, large parts had no tar paper beneath the shingles, and other sections had new shingles placed over old ones.
At the same home, a contractor was supposed to install handrails over a couple of three-tiered steps leading to a porch, but merely nailed together a couple of two-by-fours stuck to the home and charged the government $300 for the job.
At another Oak Grove house, a contractor was paid $600 to replace missing screens on the windows, but no screens were installed.
In one house, a contractor charged the "excessive cost" of $150 to install a simple light fixture in a living room even though the electrical wiring was already in place, the report said.
"The contractor simply purchased a new light fixture and changed out the old light fixture," the report said.
The auditor's report recommended 10 steps the agency should take to improve its oversight of the programs.
President answers report
Agency President Helena Cunningham responded to the report's findings in a Dec. 18 letter to Legislative Auditor Dan Kyle, saying the agency looked into the problems and "found certain deficiencies in the training of the personnel evaluating the completion status of these projects."
She said two of the agency's employees "responsible for these issues" no longer work there. The letter did not say when or why they left. Agency officials did not comment Monday.
The letter also said, "Time constraints, multiple projects, problems regarding local material and labor availability, and other factors contributed to the higher costs."
Cunningham listed several actions the agency would take to fix the poor work and prevent problems in the future.
The audit cited several instances in which employees violated the agency's ethics policy by accepting meals or gifts from companies that do business with the agency.
For example, Morgan Keegan & Co., which performs underwriting for agency bond issues, gave auditors a list of 23 meals it sponsored for agency employees and board members in a two-year period. That list included a dinner at Juban's, a fine restaurant in Baton Rouge, for 37 agency people plus some of their spouses at a cost of $20 to $50 per person.
Meals, tickets defended
Cunningham's letter said the auditor's findings raise issues that "merit further review" and that the agency would look anew at its employees' practices. Still, she defended the meals.
"While it is true the sponsors of these events are businesses which benefit from opportunities with the agency, the agency, and therefore those served by the agency, benefit from maintaining good working relationships among those who provide services for LHFA programs," the letter said.
The auditor reported that agency board member Larry Ferdinand and Cunningham violated the agency's ethics policy and "may have violated" Louisiana's ethics code by accepting gifts from Bank One, which does business with the state agency. Bank One provided Ferdinand with four tickets worth $260 to the July 2001 Essence festival in New Orleans and gave Cunningham tickets for the May 2001 Summerfest in Baton Rouge.
Cunningham's letter said Ferdinand received the tickets from a longtime friend who also happens to work for Bank One and that he had reimbursed the value of the tickets to Bank One. She said her Summerfest tickets were not improper because they could not be considered a thing of economic value and were "complementary as part of Bank One's sponsorship" of the event.
I may be the only guy in the country who thinks New Orleans is a stinking cesspool of scumbags and cheap hustlers- most people seem to think it's some sort of Disneyland with booze.
I'm sure that the vast majority of tourists have no earthly idea how dangerous the place is- and don't call the cops, half of them are criminals in uniform. It's sort of like a Mexican border town- you can have a great time, but watch your back.
Well here are some great things to do in the Big Easy for more chariable spirits.
So save your Chamber of Commerce bullshit, OK? Feed that crap to moron college boys who just want to get drunk and see some tits- because that's all N.O. is good for.
Merry Christmas.
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